April 2012 Newsletter - KDA132

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discussions with Whittle, confirming that Rolls-Royce realised that Jet Propulsion was the way forward for powering aircraft, and that after the war there would be a large surplus of piston engines, while the jet engine would be good business in the future. Getting the jet engines into production dragged on through to the beginning of 1943. By then the relationship between Power Jets and Rover had completely broken down. This was when Rolls-Royce saw their opportunity, and with the support of the Ministry did a deal with Rover to exchange the Rolls-Royce Meteor tank engine production for Rover’s official Jet engine production facilities. This included Rover’s secret jet engine development facility. It was a very smart business move, brokered by Ernest Hives, and as we know the rest is history for Rolls-Royce involvement with jet engines. With this change there came very rapid progress with the final development issues being resolved. This only amounted to some fine tuning of the angle of the turbine blades, which was perfected by Rolls-Royce. Whittle was ecstatic and wrote a congratulatory letter to Rolls-Royce. It was apparent that the original basic design that Whittle had come up was correct all along and only needed Air Commodore Sir Frank Whittle, K.B.E., C.B., F.R.S. accuracy and quality control that was required. Also, both of these companies were independently trying to build jet engines to their own designs. The problem was that the Whittle engine was not yet fully developed with a number of issues still to resolve, the main one being the lack of speed control of the engine at the top end of the rpm and power output. It seems that their motivation was to get in first and have something of their own to patent. It all turned into a huge bureaucratic squabble. Whittle claimed after the war that it held up production for two years. While all of this wrangling was going on the first flight engine, designated W1, was completed and fitted to the prototype Gloster Whittle E28/39 aeroplane which was ready for testing in May 1941. The great day in history for jet propulsion was fittingly at Cranwell Air Force Base in Lincolnshire, where Whittle had first formulated his ideas. On 15 May the Chief Test Pilot of Glosters, P.E.G (Gerry) Sayer took the Whittle jet powered aeroplane for its first flight, which was completed without any problems. Power Jets personnel had tried to get the Ministry to have a professional film unit to record the historic occasion, but without any luck. It seemed that the doubters didn’t want any embarrassing evidence if the flight were unsuccessful! During the next few weeks many more flights were completed. The top brass came and saw and on one flight a speed of 370 mph was achieved, which was faster than the current Spitfire of the time. As the jet engine development was still secret, many of the serving RAF personnel could not believe what they were seeing. Rumour was rife, with some believing that the plane sucked itself along like a vacuum cleaner. One old RAF Officer thought he was going mad as he thought he had seen a plane take off without a propeller! The pressure was now on to get completed engines finished for a twin engine fighter, ‘the Meteor MK1,’ which the Gloster Aircraft Company had designed. To add to their already huge work load, they were advised that three other companies were also experimenting with turbine engines namely: Metropolitan Vickers, de Havilland Aircraft Engines and Rolls-Royce. Power Jets Ltd was advised by the Ministry to act as consultants to these developments as well. About that time Ernest Hives had some The Power Jets W1 Engine fine tuning of the three main components, i.e. the compressor, the combustion chambers, and the turbine. The relationship between these items is critical. The first Gloster Meteor fighter aircraft, powered by Rolls-Royce Welland jet engines, were delivered to the RAF in May 1944 . They were posted to 616 Squadron at Manston for operations against the V1 flying bombs. They were the only aeroplanes fast enough to catch up with the flying bombs, and they were credited with 14 kills. It had taken 6 years of intensive work to get there, and the strain NZRR&BC Issue 12-4 8
on Whittle had taken its toll on his health, so he had to take time out to recover from nervous exhaustion. Added to this, he was very bitter about the way the development had been handled by the officials concerned, and was very critical of many of them, named in his autobiography. Towards the end of the war the Government The Gloster Whittle E28/39, powered by the W1 engine Ernest Hives, Hs in Rolls-Royce parlance, created Baron Hives of Duffield in 1950, in a pencil sketch by Donald Eyre. Hs had much to do with the Allied victory in WW2, and rose from bicycle mechanic who repaired the Hon. C.S. Rolls’s car when it broke down outside his employer’s premises in 1901, to Chairman of Rolls-Royce Limited. nationalised his Power Jets Development Company, precluding him of any ongoing royalties for his invention. This just added to his woes. Finally the powers that be realised in 1948 that an injustice had been done, and he was awarded a KBE, while the Royal Commission for Awards for Inventions made him an award of £100,000. He retired from the Air Force in the same year with the rank of Air Commodore. He was much feted in his retirement, and lived to see his invention used in the modern jet age as we know it. He died in 1996 at the age of 89 years. RNZAF Official Photograph of Meteor NZ6001 at Ohakea 25 March 1946, negative number G4248, from an envelope apparently liberated from Wigram by Guy Robertson. He was told to burn them, but thought they were too nice to destroy. Photo via John King. A Warm Welcome to the Following New Members: Harry and Edith Devonish 123a Mackenzie Avenue Christchurch 8023 Telephone (03) 381 1936 027 229 3810 devs@xtra.co.nz 1992 Bentley Turbo “R” Chassis SCBZRO3AZMCH 35994 Andrew Bain and Jeremy Evans “Winchester” 53 Stokes Road, Balcairn 7477 Telephone (03) 312 9866 0275 819 191 ajsbain@hotmail.com 1959 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud Chassis SNH250 NZRR&BC Issue 12-4 9
Page 1 and 2: New Zealand Rolls-Royce & Bentley C
Page 3 and 4: The First Rolls-Royces in New Zeala
Page 5 and 6: Northern Region Lunch, Riverhead Ta
Page 7: Sir Frank Whittle and His Jet Engin
Page 11 and 12: in the warm Virginia sunshine, Cliv
Page 13 and 14: up and saw the most beautiful tree,
Page 15 and 16: Helen standing by GEN39. Sir Regina
Page 17 and 18: HUNT FOR THE BLOWER BENTLEY By Kevi
Page 19 and 20: Motorsport lads as our support crew
Page 21 and 22: to curious animals. 3.propylene gly
Page 23 and 24: FOR SALE - 2005 ROLLS-ROYCE PHANTOM
Page 25 and 26: COLGRAY MOTORS Rolls Royce & Bentle
Page 27 and 28: BRUCE MCILROY LTD Authorised Bentle

April 2012 Newsletter - KDA132

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